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THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 





By pemiission of Ilerr Umlauf, Hamburg. 

 A HAUSSA WOMAN. 



THE FALASHAS. 



One of the most remarkable races in Abyssinia 

 are the Falashas, who live around Lake Tsana in 

 the central provinces. Their name, which comes 

 from the Ethiopian word Falas, means "exiles." 

 They claim to be the direct descendants of the Jews 

 sent to Abyssinia as the retinue of Menelik, son 

 of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, reinforced by 

 those who fled from Palestine after the overthrow 

 of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar. The Falashas were 

 once a powerful tribe occupying Simen, the high 

 mountain region of Abyssinia, and the adjacent 

 plains of Dembea. They were a turbulent race, 

 and a source of perpetual trouble to the Tigrians 

 and Amharans. They were therefore driven from 

 the plains; but under a succession of Gideons and 

 Judiths they held their own in the mountains. In 

 the tenth century, under a beautiful and ambitious 

 leader, Princess Esther, they nearly subverted Chris- 

 tianity throughout Abyssinia, and compelled the 

 Legitimist prince to fly to Shoa. At length in the 



seventeenth century they were finally defeated, driven from the mountains, and compelled to settle 

 as a subject race in the provinces of Dembea, Gojam, and Woggera. They were estimated 

 in 1862 to number about 250,000, but according to later reports there are only from 10,000 

 to 20,000 of them. Stern, who visited the tribe as a missionary, says that "in physiognomy 

 most of the Falashas bear striking traces of their Semitic origin. Among the first group we 

 saw at Gondar there were some whose Jewish features no one could have mistaken who had 

 ever seen the descendants of Abraham either in London or Berlin. Their complexion is 

 a shade paler than that of the Abyssinians, and their eyes, although black and sparkling, are 

 not so disproportionately large as those which characteristically mark the other occupants 

 of the land." 



The Falashas are very exclusive: intermarriage with members of another tribe or creed 

 is rigidly prohibited, and any intercourse with a Gentile entails elaborate penance and 

 purification. They maintain the Jewish customs as prescribed in Leviticus. They observe the 

 Passover with the sacrifice of the Paschal lamb and the use of unleavened bread. They 

 celebrate the feasts of Pentecost, of Trumpets, and of Tabernacles by taking offerings to their 

 synagogues, where they hold commemorative services. Their synagogues, or mesquids, are placed 

 in the middle of the villages and surmounted by a red earthen pot; the building is divided 

 into three courts, entrance to which is regulated by the Levitical Law. The entrance faces the 

 east, and on the opposite side is a small enclosure containing the altar of sacrifice. The 

 priests undergo a long course of ascetic training. According to Stern, the Falashas are in 

 many ways superior to their neighbors. He describes them as "exemplary in their morals, 

 cleanly in their habits, and devout in their belief, and also industrious in the daily pursuits 

 and avocations of life. Husbandry and a few simple trades such as smiths, potters, and 

 weavers constitute the sole occupations in which they engage: commerce they unanimously 

 repudiate as incompatible with their Mosaic creed." 



In connection with the claims of the Falasha people to be regarded as of Jewish descent, 

 it may be stated that none of their priests have at present any knowledge of the Hebrew 

 language. Their Bible is the Gheez or Old Ethiopic version, which was made probably in the 

 fourth century, and is common to all the Abyssinian Christians. 



Apart from their peculiar religious rites and traditions, the Falashas differ little from the 



